Order read the books
by English-Rose89
Summary: During Christmas 5th year. Certain members of the order are spending christmas morning at headquarters and a suprise package is found.. This is my first fanfic so be nice..
1. Prologue

Prologue: Christmas at Grimmauld Place

It was dark still when the house began to stir that morning, and a sharp chill draft was felt through all the gaps in the skirting boards and doors of the old musty house, not that this would or even could deter the happiness of the residents on this particular morning. It was Christmas!

Harry awoke slowly, listening to the stumbling and shuffling of Ron from across the room, clearly eager to make it downstairs for Mrs Weasley's signature breakfast feast.

'Oi, mate, if you don't get your arse out of bed soon I can't guarantee I won't eat your share of the sausages!' babbled Ron excitedly.

Harry grumbled good-naturedly back at him before slipping out of bed into the frigid air. _Trust Ron to always be the spirit of Christmas_, he thought fondly. Personally, Harry still found himself savouring the thought of celebrating a real Christmas with his friends who were practically family – more so than those he could legally call his relatives.

The Dursleys had always made it a point to enjoy their Christmases while making it clear that he, Harry, was not welcome amongst them but for his skills with a frying pan or for picking up discarded wrapping paper. So he always took the time to appreciate everything from the special breakfast to the enthusiastic pranking provided by the Weasley twins that had become a tradition since he started Hogwarts.

This year, however, was especially important to him as it was his first real holiday with his godfather Sirius, and, judging by the happy sounds of out-of-tune carolling he had been hearing recently, Sirius was just as happy to be celebrating with him this year also. Not to mention their other friends who had agreed to spend the morning with them in headquarters; Remus, Tonks, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, and he had even heard a rumour that Professor Snape had been invited – much to his and the younger Weasley's distaste. Hermione un-surprisingly had given them all a lecture on making everyone feel welcome at Christmas and how even Snape deserved to have _some _relief from the gloominess of war from time to time. This was assuming that he would deign to come of course, which Harry wasn't entirely convinced of.

When Harry finally made it downstairs he was met with a chorus of 'Merry Christmas!' from everyone sitting at the already heavily burdened dining table. He was not the last one to arrive however, as he sat down between Remus and Hermione the door opened and in walked Professor Dumbledore's smiling face followed closely by a very reluctant- looking Professor Snape, who took one look at the bright decorations littering the room, sneered and promptly took his seat beside Dumbledore.

'Well Molly, I must congratulate you on this sumptuous feast before us, it looks positively delicious and I am honoured to have been invited to attend' said Dumbledore with a courteous half-bow to Mrs Weasely.

'Indeed, I believe I have not seen such...festive... decorations in many years.' Snape commented with a look of barely disguised distaste at a piece of tinsel hanging haphazardly off a torch bracket on the opposite wall.

Mrs Weasley accepted their complements (or criticism as Snape's was undoubtedly meant) with a wave of her hand and bade everyone 'Dig in! There are presents to be unwrapped.'

At which command there commenced a flurry of activity and it was not long until the last piece of bacon had been fought over (and won by Sirius) and they were all moving into the parlour which had been cleared and set up with plenty of squishy armchairs surrounding a table piled with presents.

When they were nearing the end of the pile and all that was left were a few stray presents which looked to be from Kreacher that no-one really wanted to open (without at least wearing protective gloves for safety) Ginny spotted an oddly wrapped package addressed to Dumbledore 'From a Friend'. She handed it over and, after casting the appropriate charms to check for dark magic, he opened it and out came a book. He set this aside for the time being and read the attached letter aloud:

_Dear Professor Dumbledore_

_First of all, Merry Christmas!_

_You don't know me but trust me when I say I mean you all no harm, this may be a little hard to believe, but I am writing to you from the future where I work in the Department of Mysteries – Time division. I am contacting you because a great darkness is about to take hold of the wizarding world and, although I am proof that everything turns out ok eventually, I believe that many deaths could be prevented and many wrongs righted if you were to read the book that I have sent you. It is in fact seven books, but the next ones will only reveal themselves once the current one has been read. It begins in the past and will catch up to the present in the fifth book. I do this so that all misunderstandings may be corrected and in the hope that some relationships will improve._

_You may include all those currently celebrating with you this morning but I will caution you as to bringing anyone else into this secret. You should know the risks I am taking by attempting to change what is, and I will trust you and all those in the room to bear this responsibility wisely._

_With love and best wishes for a better future,_

_A.S.P_

'Well,' said McGonagall shakily, 'let's get on with it then'

Remus picked the book up from the table and read the title 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'; everyone looked over at Harry, who had gone remarkably pale. 'Typical, Potter, as if you didn't have a big enough ego already.' Snape said caustically.

'Enough, Severus, let us get on and read. Remus, will you begin for us please?' Dumbledore gestured to Remus and sat back with a freshly made cup of tea, ready to listen.


	2. Chapter 1 pt 1

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

A/N: I've decided to cut the chapters in half as it's taking me so long to get through them at the moment. 

* * *

"**Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived" **Remus began.

"**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."**

"That's your Aunt and Uncle right Harry?" asked Bill. Harry nodded, a shiver of apprehension running down his spine. _Oh no_, he thought, he didn't want them to know how dismal his childhood had been, he couldn't bear it if they all started to _pity_ him. He felt that he would even prefer Snape's inevitable sneer of disgust at his pathetic weakness, over that.

"This should be interesting" Ron whispered to Hermione.

"**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense." **

"Merlin, how dull their lives must be." Tonks muttered.

"Not for long" sniggered Fred.

"**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills." **

"Huh?" said Ron,

"Oh, well you see it's a tool..."

"Mione, don't bother" Harry interrupted, "it's not important. Carry on Remus."

"**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours." **

Snape rolled his eyes, _looks like Tuney hasn't changed that much._

"**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere."**

Harry, Ron and the twins snorted at this while Professor McGonagall and Mrs Weasely looked at them disapprovingly.

"**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters."**

Sirius let out a dog-like growl at this while Remus glared at the book ferociously before continuing to read.

" **Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be." **

"Thank Merlin for that" Harry said quietly.

Snape raised his eyebrows at this. It felt like he was missing something, why did Potter seem to hate those who had obviously raised him as if he was royalty? _Ungrateful,_ he thought, _just like a Potter_.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that. **

"There is nothing wrong with Harry!" shouted Sirius and the Weaselys. Harry smiled, it warmed his heart to see how many people cared about him.

Dumbledore looked at him sadly for a moment, _If only there had been another way._ But there was no use dwelling on it, it had turned out for the best in the end.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. **

"What a lovely family picture" said Sirius sarcastically.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.**

"Well now that is just bad parenting!" spouted Mrs Weasely, "He should not be encouraged to behave that way."

Snape rolled his eyes, _I can think of worse_, he thought.

"I can think of worse" Sirius said, his parents had not exactly been the best role models.

Snape was horrified. He had shared a thought with the mutt!

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. **

"Ooh could this possibly be.."

"the infamous Professor McGonagall in.."

"her animagus form?" said Fred and George in turn.

"Perhaps" the Professor sniffed.

**What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr.**

**Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. **

"Hmph, Muggles. So oblivious to what's right in front of them" said Charlie, thinking of what he had seen of Muggles 'selective memory' at work after dragon sightings.

**As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about.**

**People in cloaks. **

"That's not very covert of them" frowned Hermione

"What's odd about wearing cloaks?" asked Ron.

"Muggles don't wear them, it's a style of clothing that went out of fashion a long time ago in their world" answered Remus. "Now can I continue? We'll never finish these books by the end of the holidays at this rate!"

"Sorry Moony/Remus" they all chorused (minus the professors of course)

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. **

_There he goes again with the excuses._ Charlie thought. _Even when he knows there is a magical world he can't see the obvious._

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed openmouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time. **

"I wonder what's going on, it must be big for them all to risk exposure this way" said Ginny. The adults all looked at each other sadly, they could make a pretty good guess as to what had just happened.

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. "The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry." Mr. Dursley stopped dead. **

"Good" the Twins said.

"Fred! George! That's enough" Mrs Weasely scolded.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

_Nothing new there then_, thought almost everyone in the room.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might**

**have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"He'll know it soon enough if this is when I think it is" said Bill amidst the disgusted and disapproving noises coming from various people directed at Dursley.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her – if he'd had a sister like that… **

Snape couldn't help glowering at the wall at this, _Petunia should be glad to have a sister as wonderful as Lily Ev...Potter,_ he thought, hesitating over the name.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry, "he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

Harry's eyebrows nearly hit his hairline at this, he'd never heard Uncle Vernon being polite to a stranger before.

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. **

"So it's one of us then" Ron deduced. Hermione rolled her eyes, _well done genius,_ she thought.

**He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground.**

**On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" **

The younger generation all exchanged looks at this, they understood now what was making the adults so tense. Harry looked at Sirius thinking about what was most likely happening to him while all the celebrations were happening. '_Happy, happy day' indeed,_ he scoweled.

"Merlin, it's a wonder the whole wizarding world wasn't discovered if there are idiots like this roaming about" Ginny commented.

"Yes Miss Weasely," said Dumbledore, "I believe the Obliviators at the ministry had their hands full with these kinds of accidents frequently occurring at the time"

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"This guy is seriously barking mad!" said Fred,

"Off his trolley!" George added,

"Totally mental" they chorused.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"**Shoo! "Said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour? Mr. Dursley wondered. **

"Perhaps not, but I believe it is normal Professor behaviour" Remus smiled at McGonagall.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, things are busy at the moment, the next one should be faster.**


End file.
